Minnesota ruled CB Bashaud Breeland as questionable originally for Monday’s game in Chicago. Now, that doesn’t really matter.
The Vikings waived Breeland on Saturday after the cornerback had a verbal altercation today at practice with coaches. He took off his cleats and got into it with multiple teammates who were trying to calm the situation, per Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
“Too much to come back from,” Pelissero wrote on Twitter.
You could say that again. Due to his on-field inconsistency, Breeland was not in the position make any mistakes outside of games. He did that in practice this week. By doing so, the Vikings had no choice but to get rid of him.
When Minnesota made that decision, it confirmed what we already knew: the team signing Breeland originally was a mistake.
He has a PFF grade of 47.2 this year. He has two picks and five passes defended, but his six touchdowns allowed in just 13 games is tied for the most in his career.
Breeland signed late in free agency. Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press reported that Breeland expected to compete for a starting spot out wide.
The cornerback struggled in the preseason. Despite that, he earned the starting position over second-year cornerback Cameron Dantzler, Granted, Dantzler didn’t look great in the preseason, either. But in hindsight, the Vikings could have started Dantzler and let the young corner develop with more experience.
Instead, Minnesota got up-and-down performances from a cornerback who’s no longer on the team. The move to get Breeland could be rationalized at the time — more cornerback depth is never a bad thing. However, knowing what we know now, the Vikings should not have signed Breeland.
I’m not going to get into the off-field stuff too much. Honestly, Breeland’s tweets are funny. And to his credit, he thanked the Vikings for the opportunity on Twitter. But from a performance standpoint, the Vikings didn’t really need Breeland this year. On Saturday, the team simply reaffirmed that.